HomeNewsHaiti Gang Has Occupied Supreme Court for Almost a Week
NEWS

Haiti Gang Has Occupied Supreme Court for Almost a Week

HAITI / 16 JUN 2022 BY ALESSANDRO FORD EN

Nearly a week after a powerful Haitian gang attacked and occupied the country’s Supreme Court building, reports suggest that police have still not retaken the courthouse, displaying authorities' inability to deal with expanding criminal groups.

On June 14, the Palais de Justice, the highest seat of the Haitian judicial system, was still occupied by heavily armed members of the “5 Seconds” (5 Segond) gang, one of the two main crime groups from the Village-de-Dieu neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, unnamed government sources told news outlet Le Nouvelliste.

On June 10, the courthouse had been the scene of a brutal assault, as gang members equipped with automatic weapons raided the building and allegedly stole evidence, including drugs, weapons and money. Judicial staff escaped by scaling a wall, while two armoured police vehicles covered their exit.

SEE ALSO: Why Haiti’s Gang War Keeps on Getting Worse

Hours later, Haiti’s Minister of Justice and Public Security, Berto Dorcé, attempted to downplay the incident and assured media that security forces had quickly regained control of the area. 

“[The gang] fired on the court from a distance but could not enter. A court employee with a leg injury was taken to hospital. But currently, the police occupy the space of the court with armored vehicles,” he told Haitian press.   

That claim now appears to have been debunked. Government sources who spoke to Le Nouvelliste were not able to say when security forces would expel the gang.

InSight Crime Analysis

The Palais de Justice is in the middle of 5 Seconds territory and has been robbed by unidentified intruders several times this year alone. There may be several reasons as to why the 5 Seconds gang decided to take the building.

First, publicity. Hours before raiding the courthouse, 5 Seconds gang members kidnapped 38 people from two minibuses bound for the southwestern city of Miragoane. Their leader, alias “Izo,” released a video stating the kidnappings were retaliation for the extrajudicial killing of one of his men in Miragoane last month.

In early June, the city’s commissioner caused an uproar when he confessed to having approved the murder and defiantly declared that Miragoane would “remain a cemetery for bandits.” Raiding the courthouse may be Izo’s attempt at showing his strength.

SEE ALSO: Haiti’s Kidnapping Crisis Grows Ever More Desperate in 2022

Second, money. According to a communiqué by local NGO Fondasyon Je Klere (FJKL), gang members captured seven vehicles and ransacked judges’ offices, taking everything from computers to air conditioning systems. Even the courthouse desks are apparently on sale in the square next to the building, reported FJKL.

The gang may urgently need income to buy munitions. It has now been 13 months since a vicious four-party gang war began in Martissant and ammunition prices are soaring, said Eric Calpas, a gang researcher in Haiti.

Third, police corruption. From early 2018 to late 2020, the Palais de Justice was robbed or nearly robbed 23 times, including 17 occasions in which rooms containing sensitive files were burgled without signs of forced entry. Various civil society groups have therefore raised the possibility of police involvement in recent robberies.

“The Fondasyon Je Klere (FJKL) notes, without making any links for now, that [the 5 Seconds raid has] taken place at the time when the Magistrates of the Attorney General's Office were questioning six defendants…[for] acts of corruption at the Haitian National Police,” said the FJKL report.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

CARIBBEAN / 9 JUL 2021

Two days on from the nighttime assassination of Haiti President Jovenel Moïse in Port-au-Prince, competing theories have failed to provide…

CARIBBEAN / 13 OCT 2022

Two gangs have coordinated an amphibious attack on a key industrial area north of Haiti's capital of Port-au-Prince.

CARIBBEAN / 22 OCT 2021

Kidnappings have skyrocketed in Haiti, but the crisis has political as well as criminal roots.

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela Coverage Continues to be Highlighted

3 MAR 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-director Jeremy McDermott was the featured guest on the Americas Quarterly podcast, where he provided an expert overview of the changing dynamics…

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela's Organized Crime Top 10 Attracts Attention

24 FEB 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published its ranking of Venezuela’s ten organized crime groups to accompany the launch of the Venezuela Organized Crime Observatory. Read…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime on El País Podcast

10 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-founder, Jeremy McDermott, was among experts featured in an El País podcast on the progress of Colombia’s nascent peace process.

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Interviewed by Associated Press

3 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime’s Co-director Jeremy McDermott was interviewed by the Associated Press on developments in Haiti as the country continues its prolonged collapse. McDermott’s words were republished around the world,…

THE ORGANIZATION

Escaping Barrio 18

27 JAN 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published an investigation charting the story of Desafío, a 28-year-old Barrio 18 gang member who is desperate to escape gang life. But there’s one problem: he’s…